With a heavy thud, Hagoromo and Pakura leaped down from the descending Yatagarasu, landing on the ground right behind Might Dai.
"Uncle Dai?" Hagoromo asked.
With Hagoromo's sudden appearance, the enemies' gazes flicked past Dai in the middle to linger on Hagoromo and Pakura for a brief moment, before snapping right back to Might Dai.
Because of Guy, Hagoromo and Dai knew each other. However, this was the first time Hagoromo had ever seen Dai in this state. Therefore, while still in the air, he had to carefully observe and even hesitated before finally confirming his identity.
"That voice... is that you, Hagoromo?" Dai didn't turn his head, but he still recognized exactly who had arrived just from the voice.
Looking at Might Dai right now, simple sensory perception dictated that his chakra intensity had already completely shattered his physical limits, easily eclipsing the Kage level... Therefore, the jutsu he was currently using went without saying:
The Eight Inner Gates.
"Uncle Dai, can the Eight Inner Gates still be stopped?" Hagoromo's tone carried an indescribable emotion. In truth, he already realized what was happening.
The enemies facing them were not only incredibly strong but also held a clear numerical advantage. Under these circumstances, Dai had no choice but to unleash his absolute maximum combat power.
In reality, as long as Dai had opened the Seventh Gate, if he paired up with Hagoromo, whether it was stalling the enemy or taking the opportunity to escape, it wouldn't have been an issue.
But unfortunately, it was too late to say anything now.
"The Gate of Opening, Healing, Life, Pain, Limit, View, Wonder... Death. To be precise, this current state should be called the 'Eight Inner Gates Formation'..." Because he was in this unique state, Dai's voice sounded slightly different from usual, but Hagoromo could still hear the absolute calm and composure within it.
"So, before I die, the chakra won't stop, and the jutsu won't stop."
Or rather, the moment his chakra finally receded from this absolute peak state would signify the end of his life.
There was a very good reason the Eight Inner Gates was classified as a Forbidden Jutsu. It wasn't just because of the extreme, body-breaking toll it took during training and usage, but more importantly, because once the Gate of Death was opened, death became an irreversible process.
Therefore, Hagoromo could already foresee Dai's ultimate fate, yet he was completely powerless to change it.
Before his eyes, crimson vapor billowed from Dai's entire body, swirling together with the limit-breaking torrent of his chakra. This ultimate state that exponentially multiplied his power granted instant, overwhelming strength, but his life seemed to be the only thing that could serve as an equivalent exchange for it.
Death was a predestined conclusion.
Dai's hair had turned a dark crimson, matching the red mist erupting from his skin—which was actually his own evaporating blood.
A technique of certain death was generally like this.
"I see... Then I just need to bear witness to all of this," Hagoromo said. In this state, Might Dai probably didn't need his help to handle the enemies.
Even if his enemies were the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist... Aside from the two that Hagoromo had already killed off in separate encounters, the remaining five of this generation's Seven Swordsmen were all gathered here.
But there was nothing to fear. For Might Dai, who had opened the Gate of Death and entered the Eight Inner Gates Formation, his true enemy wasn't the Seven Swordsmen, but rather his own body's ultimate physical limits and chakra burn rate.
If his chakra could hold out until the very end, then Dai wouldn't be the only one destined to die today.
It was highly likely that no one here could withstand a single strike from him, and even a Mangekyo Sharingan would have a hard time tracking his movements.
"Yeah. The Eight Inner Gates Formation is the single technique I spent twenty years of training to master. Now, I have successfully protected everything I wanted to protect. You could say those twenty years of effort have yielded returns and value far beyond my wildest imagination."
Dai's tone carried... joy.
Because by now, Guy and the others had safely escaped the area.
"However... now that I'm actually in this state, it's clear to me. Perhaps what I can do right now isn't just pinning them down and buying time... I wonder if I can stop the Hidden Mist's Jonin squad."
The stop in Dai's words didn't just mean holding them back; in reality, it meant killing them.
"So, you just stand by and watch."
There was a dimensional gap in power between the Eighth Gate and the Seventh Gate. Therefore, having never entered this state before, Dai's previous estimations of the Eighth Gate's ultimate strength based on his Seventh Gate experience were highly inaccurate.
His initial talk of merely buying time had clearly been underestimating himself.
So, facing formidable foes, he didn't try to persuade Hagoromo to leave like he did with Guy's squad, because he felt he could genuinely eliminate the opponents.
Even if he was just a Genin, and the enemies were five elite Jonin.
"Do you need me to set up a barrier? To prevent... these people from escaping," Hagoromo offered.
The upcoming battle belonged to Dai; he wouldn't interfere, but to ensure no one fled, he could lay down a sealing barrier.
For a ninja, this battlefield would serve as Dai's greatest curtain call, so Hagoromo didn't want anyone to ruin the stage.
"No need, just watching is enough. A barrier isn't necessary. With my current speed, probably no one will be able to run away."
Listening to their conversation, Pakura felt it was somewhat absurd. Although the Konoha ninja standing before her possessed absurdly strong chakra—even if they were truly facing a Tailed Beast—a specialized ninja group like the Seven Swordsmen wasn't completely defenseless. Yet, the way these two spoke made it sound as if the enemies' deaths were absolutely guaranteed.
"Well then..."
Hagoromo didn't say anything more. He simply pulled Pakura back, leaving Dai alone to face the enemies.
"The final end of the Konoha Ninja Might Dai will be witnessed by his fellow Konoha Ninja, Kamishiro Hagoromo!"
"To have the privilege of witnessing the birth of the Strongest of this era, I Kamishiro, am deeply honored!"
He truly was the strongest. In the current ninja world, who could possibly stop the Eight Inner Gates?
From beginning to end, Might Dai never looked back. As Hagoromo's voice faded, it officially heralded the start of the battle.
The Seven Swordsmen seemed to have been waiting for Might Dai to prepare himself, not attacking earlier. In reality, it was because Hagoromo's sudden arrival had forced them to change their strategy.
Hagoromo retreated to a safe distance, leaned Pakura against a boulder, and stood beside her, keeping his eyes locked on the battlefield.
"Who is he?" Pakura asked. She had never heard of Konoha possessing such a terrifyingly strong ninja.
"Before today, just an ordinary Genin."
"After today..." Hagoromo couldn't immediately think of the right way to describe it. He glanced at Pakura, and a word popped into his mind. "Right, he should be a Hero."
...
The ones to make the first move were still the Seven Swordsmen.
Of course they could feel Dai's overwhelming presence. The original battle would have been a brutally difficult head-on clash, but Hagoromo's appearance gave them a new tactic.
Dai had stepped forward specifically to protect his comrades, and now, new comrades had appeared behind him.
So, as long as someone attacked Hagoromo, Dai would inevitably rush to the rescue. The remaining swordsmen could then seize the opening Dai revealed to launch a fatal strike.
Longsword Nuibari (Sewing Needle), wielder: Jonin Kushimaru Kuriarare.
Judging by his slender build and the weapon he used, he was a ninja who specialized in speed.
And he was indeed incredibly fast. Even though Hagoromo had opened up a significant distance, the moment Kushimaru launched his attack, he appeared before Hagoromo's eyes in a near instant.
That razor-sharp blade, reputed to pierce and sew together anything, was less than ten centimeters away from piercing Hagoromo's heart.
Yet Hagoromo turned a blind eye to it, remaining completely unfazed.
Because at this specific moment, on this specific battlefield, all "high-speed" attacks were simply irrelevant against a Konoha ninja.
No one was going to be faster than Might Dai.
Before the thought of I got him could even fully form in Kushimaru Kuriarare's mind, a suffocating terror capable of devouring his entire spirit violently crashed down on him!
An illusion?
No. It was simply Might Dai's crimson figure materializing directly above him.
And Dai's attack was nothing more than a standard Leaf Severe Whirlwind.
In Hagoromo's eyes, Dai's right leg slammed into Kushimaru's back. The apocalyptic force drove the opponent's body rocketing down into the earth!
BOOM!
Centered around the exact point of Dai's impact, the ground instantly cratered.
Then.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The titanic force transmitted by such a devastating attack couldn't be instantly absorbed by the earth. It was only after Dai's attack had completely finished that the ground collapsed inward, layer by layer, forming massive concentric rings of destruction radiating outward.
A Severe Whirlwind executed in the Eighth Gate state carried an astronomical buff to both speed and raw power. This single strike carried an un-ordinary lethality, much like Saitama-sensei's "Normal Series" punches.
It was a fatal blow. With just a single hit, the Hidden Mist Jonin Kushimaru Kuriarare hit the dirt, never to rise again.
The Seven Swordsmen's strategy was sound. Dai had indeed rushed to the rescue.
But where was the so-called opening?
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